Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of and factors associated with common mental disorders and suicidal ideation among public health workers.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with municipal healthcare workers. We collected sociodemographic and occupational data including employment relationship, job area, professional category, length of work in current job and interpersonal conflict in the workplace (ICW). The analyzed mental health indicators were common mental disorders (CMD) and suicidal ideation by means of the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). Statistical analysis included the X2 test and Poisson regression.

Results: The prevalence of CMD and suicidal ideation was 20.3% and 11.6%, respectively, among the 597 participants. Permanent and younger employees exhibited higher CMD rates, while suicidal ideation predominated among the participants with higher educational level and the widowed/separated/ divorced. Physicians, administrative employees, cleaning personnel and community health agents exhibited the highest rates of CMD. In turn, there was no association between professional category and suicidal ideation on multivariate analysis. ICW was associated with poorer mental health indicators, the association being stronger when conflict involved supervisors and coworkers.

Conclusion: Both analyzed indicators (CMD and suicidal ideation) point to a worrisome situation as concerns the mental health of professionals charged of collective health care. The possible limitations of the questionnaire applied notwithstanding, ICW was the main factor associated with poorer mental health indicators. These findings point to the need to develop specific approaches to improve the psychosocial work environment.